Clasica de Almeria 2022 [LAST 10 KM]

February 13, 2022

Clasica de Almeria 2022 – El Ejido – Roquetas de Mar : 188,2 km

Even though Clásica de Almería includes several climbs, this Spanish one-day race usually comes down to a bunch sprint at the end. Racing in the south of Spain at this time of the year is a welcomed opportunity for the riders to enjoy a bit of sunshine before they head back to the colder races in Northern Europe.

Alexander Kristoff claimed his first win for Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, triumphing in a bunch sprint at the Clásica de Almería on Sunday.

The Norwegiean profited from a strong leadout from his new teammates in what was a chaotic run-in. Crucially, he had the inside line through the slight right-hand bend in the final 150 metres, which was enough to hold off his rivals.

Nacer Bouhanni, whose Arkéa-Samsic teammates had jostled for position with the Intermarché riders, took second place after sprinting out of Kristoff’s slipstream.

Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech) had to go much wide around the bend and paid the price, having to settle for the lower step of the podium.

Stanislaw Aniolowski (Bingoal-WB) produced a powerful late surge on the inside to claim fourth place while Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) rounded out the top five after taking the wide path.

“It was a great day for me,” Kristoff said. “We have a good team for this type of race, and we managed to keep it together in the finale. It was quite technical with lots of roundabouts but we held a good position thanks to the team.

“In finale I had a lot help from [Andrea] Pasqualon [Adrien] Petit and [Dmitri] Claeys, so I came into the final straight in the best position. It was a headwind so was maybe a little bit hard to take it from the front, but I still had the legs.”

The 37th edition of the Spanish one-day race once again took riders through the Almería region of southern Spain, with its blue waters and its sea of plastic greenhouses responsible for much of Europe’s vegetable production.

The route packed some inland hills into the first half of the race but was practically flat for the second half, making a bunch sprint the likely outcome.

Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe, Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Gilles De Wilde (Sport Vlaanderen Baloise) animated the race with a three-up breakaway but never looked like causing an upset. De Wilde was dropped with more than 40km to go, while Postlberger and Azparren lasted until just inside the 20km mark.

At that point, the wind had threatened but wasn’t doing any real damage, and it was a slow wind-up for the sprint, with two crossings of the finish line before the real deal.

Israel-Premier Tech took control heading into the final kilometre but Arkea-Samsic muscled their way up on the left and Intermarché punched through on the right. Kristoff even raised his arm to touch Simone Consonni (Cofidis) and prevent him from slipping into his train, and might consider himself fortunate to have got away with it.

The race continued and Kristoff had a strong two-man lead-out, taking the crucial first position through the right-hand roundabout exit in the final 400 metres. Kristoff then had another rider to take him to 150 metres, where the road bent round to the right again. Up against the barriers, he held firm to hold off Bouhanni, while the rivals who swarmed from the left-hand side of the road but had left themselves with too much to do.

Results :
1 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 4:22:39
2 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
3 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Israel-Premier Tech
4 Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Pol) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB
5 Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates
6 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis
7 Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
8 Jules Hesters (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
9 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
10 Max Kanter (Ger) Movistar Team
11 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) TotalEnergies
12 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan Team
13 Luis-Joe Lührs (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
14 Oscar Pelegri Ferrandis (Spa) Burgos-BH
15 Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Milan Fretin (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
17 Remy Mertz (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB
18 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
19 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
20 Antonio Jesus Soto Guirao (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
21 Stephen Bassett (USA) Human Powered Health
22 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
23 Alex Jaime Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
24 Matteo Trentin (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
25 Adrien Petit (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
26 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team
27 Vinicius Rangel Costa (Bra) Movistar Team
28 Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
29 Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
30 Jesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos-BH
31 Orluis Alberto Aular Sanabria (Ven) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
32 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Cofidis
33 Aritz Bagües Kalparsoro (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
34 Tom Bohli (Swi) Cofidis
35 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
36 Nurbergen Nurlykhassym (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
37 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team
38 Xabier Isasa Larrañaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
39 Sergio Roman Martin Galan (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
40 Andrii Ponomar (Ukr) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
41 Savva Novikov (Rus) Equipo Kern Pharma
42 Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH
43 Jon Barrenetxea Golzarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
44 Brandon Alejandro Rojas Vega (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
45 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
46 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
47 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team
48 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) TotalEnergies
49 Barnabás Peák (Hun) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
50 Michal Schlegel (Cze) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
51 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
52 Diego Pablo Sevilla Lopez (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
53 Daniel Muñoz Giraldo (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
54 Diego Lopez Fuentes (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
55 Sergio Araiz Michel (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:00:11
56 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
57 Donavan Grondin (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
58 Eugenio Sanchez Lopez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
59 Cristian Rodriguez Martin (Spa) TotalEnergies 0:00:13
60 Michiel Lambrecht (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB Development Team
61 Anton Palzer (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
62 Ander Okamika Bengoetxea (Spa) Burgos-BH
63 Iker Ballarin Manso (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
64 Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
65 Juraj Sagan (Svk) TotalEnergies
66 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
67 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:00:17
68 Daniel McLay (GBr) Arkea-Samsic
69 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel-Premier Tech
70 Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost
71 Kenny Molly (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB
72 Jordi Lopez Caravaca (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
73 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB
74 Txomin Juaristi Arrieta (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
75 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Arkea-Samsic
76 Markus Pajur (Est) Arkea-Samsic 0:00:22
77 André Carvalho (Por) Cofidis
78 Abner González Rivera (PuR) Movistar Team
79 Andres Camilo Ardila Ordoñez (Col) UAE Team Emirates
80 Asier Etxeberria Zafra (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
81 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
82 Frederik Wandahl (Den) Bora-Hansgrohe
83 Gavin Mannion (USA) Human Powered Health
84 Chad Haga (USA) Human Powered Health
85 Arjen Livyns (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB
86 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
87 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
88 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech 0:00:28
89 Marco Tizza (Ita) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB 0:00:38
90 Ben King (USA) Human Powered Health 0:00:45
91 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Cofidis 0:00:52
92 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates
93 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education-EasyPost 0:00:59
94 Tuur Dens (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:01:09
95 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel-Premier Tech 0:01:19
96 Vojtech Repa (Cze) Equipo Kern Pharma
97 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost 0:01:34
98 Manuel Peñalver Aniorte (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:02:25
99 Iúri Leitão (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
100 Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
101 Ben Healy (Irl) EF Education-EasyPost
102 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) EF Education-EasyPost
103 Juan Diego Alba Bolivar (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
104 Daniel Viegas (Por) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:03:41
105 Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
106 Alejandro Ropero Molina (Spa) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team
107 Ricardo Alejandro Zurita (Spa) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli 0:03:45
108 Didier Norberto Merchan Cardona (Col) Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
109 Oier Lazkano Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:45
110 Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost 0:06:11
111 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
112 Gilles De Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:06:21
DNF Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
DNF Valerio Conti (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan Team
DNF Juan Antonio Lopez-Cozar Jaimez (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNF Pelayo Sanchez Mayo (Spa) Burgos-BH
DNF Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
DNF Alessandro Verre (Ita) Arkea-Samsic
DNF Nathan Brown (USA) Human Powered Health
DNF Vito Braet (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Jonas Koch (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe